14 / 52
12
MODERN MINING
March 2016
MINING News
Aureus Mining Inc, listed on AIM and the
TSX, has announced that Commercial
Production has been declared at the New
Liberty Gold Mine (NLGM) in Liberia, effec-
tive 1 March 2016.
Aureus says the process plant is now
(early March) operating in line with
both design specifications and manage-
ment expectations. Over the past 60
days of operations, the process plant has
achieved an average of 88 % of design
throughput capacity. During February
2016, plant throughput totalled 90 099
tonnes of ore milled, resulting in the
recovery of over 9 000 ounces of gold,
with operating recovery levels of 90 %
Commercial Production declared at New Liberty
A blast at the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia. The mine has recently achieved Commercial Production (photo: Aureus Mining).
achieved by the end of February.
The value of the gold produced prior
to Commercial Production being declared
will be deducted from the capitalised con-
struction costs of New Liberty, rather than
recorded as revenue.
The New Liberty process plant has now
processed 503 286 tonnes of ROM fresh
ore and lower grade oxide material. Gold
production achieved for the calendar year
is currently over 14 000 ounces.
To date, there have been 25 shipments
of gold doré fromNew Liberty for smelting
and refining at the MKS PAMP refinery in
Switzerland, resulting in sales of approxi-
mately 31 500 ounces of gold.
Mining operations at New Liberty con-
tinue to progress, with run of mine (ROM)
stockpiles currently standing at 70 844
tonnes of fresh ore at a grade of 2,59 g/t
and oxide and transitional stockpiles stand-
ing at 81 881 tonnes at a grade of 1,32 g/t.
Aureus is continuing to work towards
finalising an updated mine plan for the
project, and MonuRent, the New Liberty
mining fleet provider, has purchased and
shipped to Liberia five new 100-tonne
capacity Komatsu HD785 rigid haul trucks
and one PC1250 excavator. The new fleet
of equipment is scheduled to be delivered
to New Liberty and mobilised ready for
operations during April 2016.
Lerala diamond mine valued at A$105 million
ASX-listed Kimberley Diamonds reports
that it has received the first independent
valuation of its 100 %-owned Lerala dia-
mond mine in Botswana. The valuation
was prepared by global mineral resource
consultancy Venmyn Deloitte, which has
valued the asset at $A105 million. This
valuation is an increase of 24 % over KDL’s
previously announced in-house valuation
of A$85 million.
Venmyn Deloitte made the following
key findings:
The diamond resources and ore reserves
for Lerala (announced on 11 January
2016) were assessed as reasonable,
based on the information available and
assumptions used, and provide a suit-
able basis for a mineral asset valuation.
The preferred mineral asset valuation
for Lerala is A$105,0 million, within a
valuation range of A$55,86 million to
A$128,73 million.
The planned Life of Mine (LOM) was
extended from seven years to nine years.
Venymn noted that the process plant is
one of the greatest areas of risk in relation
to the success of the project but stated that
theoretical performance of the modifica-
tions being undertaken appear to address
previous production and recovery issues.
The increased valuation is driven
largely by the upgrade to the Lerala min-
eral resource and ore reserve that was
announced by KDL on 11 January 2016,
along with decreased costs negotiated
within the mining contract signed with
Basil Read Botswana, a weaker Australian
dollar assumed over the life of the project
and Venmyn Deloitte’s decision to place a
value on inferred resources that currently
fall outside the LOM plan.
Subject to finalisation of funding, Lerala
– which is being upgraded and expanded
after having been on care andmaintenance
– is scheduled to commence production
in April 2016, with the first diamond sale
planned for June 2016 (see also page 39).